How to score a ‘neighbour free’ seat on a Qantas flight for between $30 and $65

The airline has found a way to make money from empty seats, giving passengers on some flights the chance to buy adjoining seats at a discount rate.

Qantas has found a way to make empty seats pay with its “neighbour free” initiative.

Scoring an empty neighbouring seat on a flight can feel like winning the lottery, and now Qantas is taking some of the “luck” out of the process.

For as little as $30, economy passengers are being offered the chance to block out the seat next to them on selected domestic routes.

The “neighbour free” initiative was first trialled on six routes late last year and is now being adopted on another eight routes as a way to make money on seats that would otherwise be empty.

There are some conditions attached to the measure, namely that the option of a neighbour-free seat will not be available at the point of booking a flight.

Instead, customers booked on flights with spare capacity will be sent an email invitation to take up the offer of “buying” the seat next to them, 48-hours before they travel.

The option will only be available on Qantas flights with spare capacity. picture: Brendan Radke

If they decide to take up the offer, a highlighted neighbour free seat will appear on the online seat map which they can pay to reserve.

That seat as well as their own, will then appear on their boarding pass.

It’s still not guaranteed however until they get to the gate, when cabin crew will confirm the seat’s availability.

In the event the seat is booked by another traveller at the last minute, the passenger will be refunded their money.

Qantas also requires that the “neighbour free” seat is not used for excess carry-on, or for a child under 2 who still has to use the same seat as their adult travelling companion.

Routes included in the neighbour free trial are Sydney-Gold Coast and Adelaide-Melbourne, where the going rate for an empty seat is $30.

A spare seat on Adelaide-Sydney can be bought for $45, while other routes in the trial cost $65 for a neighbour free trip.

These include Adelaide-Darwin, Adelaide-Perth, Brisbane-Darwin, Melbourne-Gold Coast, Perth-Darwin, Perth-Melbourne, Perth-Sydney, Adelaide-Brisbane, Brisbane-Perth, Darwin-Sydney and Darwin-Melbourne.

The concept of a neighbour-free seat is not new to Qantas which has offered its top tier frequent flyers the chance to block out an extra seat for some time.

Other airlines also provide the opportunity to travel with a bit more elbow room, including Air New Zealand, Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines.

At this point Qantas has no plans to expand the initiative to international flights but is likely to add other domestic routes in the months ahead.

The move comes as domestic traffic moderates, with Melbourne and Sydney Airport chiefs both blaming high airfares for “stagnant” growth in interstate travel.

Since last July, average passenger load factors on domestic flights have fallen from 85.8 per cent to 77.2 per cent in February, the most recent data available.

Originally published as How to score a ‘neighbour free’ seat on a Qantas flight for between $30 and $65